1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a supply apparatus, a method for supplying print mediums and a printing apparatus, and, in particular, to a supply apparatus that appropriately supplies print mediums.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that a printing apparatus that performs a print on a print medium is provided with a supply apparatus that separates loaded print mediums one by one and supplies the separated print medium to a printing location. The supply apparatus is provided with a feeding unit that uses a swing arm method in which a roller is supported on a front end of an arm rotating around a predetermined axis, and a separating unit that has a separation inclined surface at a predetermined angle to the loaded print medium.
As this type of supply apparatuses, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-46874 discloses a supply apparatus that is provided with two arms having different lengths to each other in a feeding-out direction of a print medium, and rotation of a drive shaft is transmitted to anyone of two rollers supported respectively on the two arms depending on a rotating direction of the drive shaft. In this supply apparatus, the two rollers are arranged in different positions in a direction (width direction of the print medium) crossing the feeding-out direction.
In the supply apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-46874, the rotation of the drive shaft is transmitted to the roller arranged in the downstream side in the feeding-out direction to rotate the roller, which prevents thin sheets from being fed out in a stacking state. In addition, the rotation of the drive shaft is transmitted to the roller arranged in the upstream side in the feeding-out direction to rotate the roller, which makes the print medium easily bent to prevent a thick sheet from being not fed out.
In the supply apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-46874, the roller rotated by transmission of the rotation of the drive shaft, as well as the roller to which the rotation of the drive shaft is not transmitted contact the print medium. Therefore a local load is applied on an area of the print medium, the area being interposed between two positions where the rollers contact. As a result, there is a case where creases or breaks are accrued on this area of the print medium.